Chapter 11: The Mark

Evelyn's breath came in gasps. The cold from the Hollow One's domain still clung to her, like frost sinking into her skin. She pressed a hand against her chest, half-expecting her heart to be missing.

But she was here. Back in the mine.

And Lillian wasn't.

Miriam's voice cut through the silence. "What the hell was that?"

Evelyn tried to speak, but her throat felt raw. Instead, she turned her arm over where Lillian had grabbed her before pushing her back.

A dark stain spread across her skin. Not a bruise. Not dirt.

Something else.

Nathaniel's face paled. "Evelyn… what is that?"

Evelyn stared. The stain shifted. Almost like it was moving.

She swallowed hard. "It's a mark."

Miriam's eyes darkened. "You brought something back with you."

Evelyn's stomach twisted. She knew it was true. The Hollow One had let her go but not without a price.

And now, it was inside her.

The Echoes Begin

The mine suddenly felt smaller. The air heavier.

The walls seemed to breathe.

Then

Whispers.

Not from the tunnel. Not from the Hollow One's domain.

From inside her own head.

Evelyn staggered back.

Nathaniel caught her arm. "Evelyn? What's wrong?"

But she could barely hear him over the whispers.

You shouldn't have come back.

You left me.

I see you now.

I see everything.

Evelyn clutched her skull. The voices weren't hers.

And one of them

One of them sounded like Lillian.

Miriam's expression hardened. "We're leaving. Now."

Evelyn wanted to argue. She couldn't leave Lillian. She had to go back.

But when she looked down

The mark on her skin had spread.

And deep inside her, something whispered her name.

The whispering shadow

Evelyn stumbled as they climbed out of the mine. The night air should have been a relief fresh, open, free.

But it wasn't.

The whispers hadn't stopped.

Even with the mine far behind them, they coiled around her mind like invisible fingers. Some were soft, almost pleading. Others… were something else.

You left me.

You brought it back with you.

It's watching through you now.

Evelyn's pulse pounded.

Miriam's grip on her arm was tight. "You're burning up."

Evelyn barely heard her. Her head was spinning. The mark on her arm throbbed not just with pain, but with something alive.

Nathaniel was staring at her, face tense. "Evelyn… what did it do to you?"

She opened her mouth to answer

And froze.

Because behind Nathaniel

In the darkness beyond the treeline

Something was watching.

The Eyes in the Dark

A figure stood between the trees.

At first, it looked like a shadow. A trick of the moonlight.

Then it moved.

Not like a person.

Like something learning how to be a person.

Its head tilted. The same way Lillian used to tilt her head when she was thinking.

Evelyn's chest tightened. "Lillian?"

Nathaniel and Miriam whipped around.

But nothing was there.

Evelyn's breath came shallow and fast. Her heart thudded against her ribs.

She could still see it.

Standing right there.

Watching.

Whispering.

But no one else could.

The Hollow One's Game

Miriam's hand was suddenly on her shoulder. "Evelyn, listen to me. We have to go."

Evelyn's fingers twitched. She wanted to argue. She wanted to run into the trees, to chase whatever that thing was, to prove she wasn't losing her mind.

But then the whisper changed.

And this time, it wasn't Lillian's voice.

It was hers.

Her own voice, coming from the shadows.

You are already mine.

Evelyn jerked back.

Nathaniel caught her before she collapsed. "Evelyn! What's happening to you?"

Evelyn's vision blurred. The whisper wasn't just inside her head anymore.

It was inside her blood.

The mark on her skin burned.

And for the first time, she understood.

The Hollow One hadn't let her go.

It had only sent her ahead.

The first sign

Evelyn barely made it back to the motel. Her body felt wrong. Not just exhausted unfamiliar. Like she wasn't alone inside her own skin.

The mark on her arm burned. Not like fire like something crawling.

Miriam locked the door behind them. "We need to deal with that thing on your arm. Now."

Nathaniel paced. "This isn't normal possession. The Hollow One it doesn't just take. It changes."

Evelyn sat on the edge of the bed, hands clenched. She could still hear the whisper.

Let me in.

She squeezed her eyes shut. No.

The whisper laughed.

Miriam pulled a first-aid kit from her bag. "I don't know what this is, but we need to try something before it spreads."

Evelyn rolled up her sleeve. The moment she saw her arm, her breath caught.

The mark had grown.

No longer just a stain it had branched out. Dark, vein-like tendrils twisted beneath her skin, creeping up toward her shoulder.

Nathaniel cursed. "That wasn't there before."

Miriam grabbed a bottle of rubbing alcohol. "Hold still."

She pressed a cotton pad to the mark

And Evelyn screamed.

The Hollow One Awakens

Agony ripped through her. Not just physical.

It was inside her mind.

The room vanished.

For a split second, she was somewhere else.

The Hollow One's domain.

A black void.

A place where whispers lived.

And in the distance

A shape emerged.

Lillian.

Or what was left of her.

Her form was half shadow, half human. Her eyes were wrong.

But it was her.

"Evelyn," Lillian whispered. "It's too late."

Evelyn gasped.

The motel room snapped back into focus.

She was on the floor.

Nathaniel and Miriam were hovering over her.

"What the hell just happened?" Nathaniel asked.

Evelyn's hands shook. "I saw her."

Miriam's expression hardened. "Saw who?"

Evelyn lifted her gaze.

Her voice was barely a whisper.

"Lillian."